Public health

Public health and safety in America are facing a systematic dismantling as the federal government withdraws from its role in protecting patients and fostering medical innovation. Through the combination of the Republican megabill (H.R. 1) and unilateral Trump administration actions, the nation’s health infrastructure is being "hollowed out," threatening to increase poverty, hardship, and preventable illness.

The consequences of these policy shifts are immediate and far-reaching:

• Mass Loss of Health Coverage: Roughly 15 million people are projected to become uninsured due to historic cuts to Medicaid and the failure to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits. These cuts disproportionately impact low-income families, children, and people of color, reversing years of progress in reducing health inequities.
• Erosion of Medical Research: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) faces a 37% budget cut, with $2.4 billion in research grants already canceled or frozen. By eliminating programs focused on diverse populations, the administration is widening the "efficacy-effectiveness gap," which ensures that future medical treatments may be less effective for the "real world" population.
• Threats to Drug Safety: Over 3,500 jobs have been eliminated at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), leading to a dangerous reduction in inspections of facilities that manufacture 90% of the generic drugs used by Americans. Fewer inspections of international production sites in countries like China and India increase the likelihood of unsafe products reaching consumers and undermine public confidence in the drug supply.
• Destabilization of Pandemic Response: Massive layoffs and the "hollowing out" of the federal workforce have eroded the state capacity necessary to detect and manage new pandemics, leaving the country vulnerable to future global health crises.
• Collapse of Global Health Leadership: The dissolution of USAID and a $6.2 billion reduction in global health funding have disrupted international efforts to combat HIV, TB, malaria, and polio while stalling progress on maternal and child health.

These "ideologically driven" cuts represent a fundamental shift away from evidence-based public health toward an agenda that endangers American lives and stalls decades of life-saving progress.